Tech

Scientists Use Lego Technology to Make More Efficient Solar Panels

Mimicking the iconic design of Lego blocks, an international team of scientists discovered a better way to harvest the sun's energy.

Researchers from Imperial College London and collaborators in Belgium, China and Japan created 22% more efficient solar panels by covering their surface with tiny aluminum studs, which are invisible to the naked eye. Under a microscope, however, the grooved surface of one of these panels actually resembles a Lego block.

Nicholas Hylton, a research associate for Imperial College's physics department, is the lead author of the study which Scientific Reportspublished earlier this month.

"In recent years, both the efficiency and cost of commercial solar panels have improved, but they remain expensive compared to fossil fuels," Hylton said in a statement. "As the absorbing material alone can make up half the cost of a solar panel, our aim has been to reduce to a minimum the amount that is needed."

The aluminum studs essentially "bend and scatter" rays of light as they hit the panel, causing them to travel longer distances on the panel's surface. In the past, scientists attempted the same design concept using silver and gold studs, but found that these metals ultimately decreased the efficiency of the panels by absorbing some of the light's energy.

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